While there are many benefits to using a CRM as your company’s customer relationship management software, it isn’t for everyone. If you’re looking for an easy way to keep track of all of your company’s customer contact information, and need something that doesn’t cost the earth but does offer plenty of useful features, consider using a CRM instead of manually entering and maintaining records for each customer.
If you don’t mind being limited in some ways, and don’t need advanced tools that will let you do things like manage your project pipeline from anywhere in the world, then Pipedrive may not be the right solution for you. In this case, you should consider Pipedrive competitors. However, if you want a simple way to keep track of your company’s customer relationship management software without overwhelming yourself with features, or want something that won’t break the bank, Pipedrive may be just what you need.
What is Pipedrive?
Pipedrive is a subscription-based software for managing customer contacts and transaction information. Unlike many other CRM solutions, which primarily focus on storing contact information, Pipedrive also has the ability to track customer journey throughout the sales process, including the following:
- Contact creation
- Customer onboarding
- Customer service
- Usage analytics
- Billing
Invoicing Key features include the following:
- Track customer contacts and transaction information in one place
- Manage customer relationships with the ability to create custom reports and view historical data
- Manage multiple customer accounts with a single account management tool
- Track materials, labor, and other costs associated with customer orders
- Manage multiple customers with a single account management tool
- Track time and materials used in order to create a customer project
- Track customer sentiment along with a customers’ ratings and reviews of your company on a scale of 1-5
- Add notes to customers’ files that you’ve created in your CRM system
- Keep all customer information in one place with one account management tool
- Track cash-on-hand and expenses associated with customer orders
- Deposit banknotes and other forms of payment into your CRM system
- Track customer satisfaction and how they feel about your company
- Operate as a 24/7/365 business all year round with no scheduled shutdowns
Advantages of Using Pipedrive as a CRM
As you can see with the list above, there are many advantages to using Pipedrive as your company’s CRM software. Let’s take a look at a few of them:
- One of the biggest advantages of using Pipedrive as a CRM is that you won’t lose track of who your customers are. You can create a dedicated team to handle dealing with each customer, or have a dedicated team handle managing customer contacts with Pipedrive. This is especially helpful if you’re using a hybrid CRM solution, where some features are only available in a standalone version.
- No self-service capabilities: In order to manage each customer, you will need to use the included customer relationship management tools. While you can create custom reports and view historical data, these tools are designed to only be used by employees of your company. You will not be able to create or manage service-level agreements (SLAs) that the customer uses.
- No online capability: While you can view information in your Rainmaker® or ProjectCRM online dashboards, they provide limited functionality. You can’t create a new customer, export or view historical data, or access emails that have been sent or received.
- No mobile capability: It is important to note that none of the functionality listed above is available on mobile devices.
Disadvantages of Using Pipedrive as a CRM
Unfortunately, there are a few things to watch out for when using Pipedrive as your company’s CRM software:
- Businesses that use a hybrid CRM solution will not be able to use all features. As mentioned above, some elements of a hybrid CRM solution are only available in a standalone format. Some of these features include online functionality, mobile capability, and access to self-service tools.
- A business that uses a hybrid CRM solution will have a very hard time managing their customer relationships effectively. Since each customer will have their own specific SLAs, each customer relationship will become extremely complicated.
- One of the biggest advantages of using a CRM is the ability to easily track customer contacts, manage their relationships, and bill them. However, there is no way to support customer issues or requests for help with a CRM. You will have to manually enter and manage all customer information, and then manually send follow-up emails when needed.
Use Pipedrive to Manage your Project Pipeline
One of the most powerful features of Pipedrive is the ability to manage your project pipeline. You can create detailed tracking reports for each and every project in the pipeline, including start and end dates, costs, and related milestones. You can also view a project’s history, track comments from customers, and access project management tools that can help you prioritize and organize your next steps.
Use Pipedrive Together with Excel
Another great way to get insight into what’s working and what isn’t in your company’s CRM system is to use the tools provided by Pipedrive together with Excel. You can view the number of contacts, lines of business, and transactions for each contact in your system and see how you stack up against your industry and company average.
You can also view the breakdown by program and see how your project management and cash flow processes stack up against other companies in your industry. This way you can better understand any bottlenecks and use cases that may be slowing down your process.
Conclusion
When it comes to customer relationships management software, there are many advantages to using Pipedrive. The best CRM solution will take your company’s needs into account and offer plenty of functionality while saving your team time and money. In this article, we’ve provided you with the top 5 advantages of using Pipedrive as your company’s CRM software.
